Crash Course
by Lighthouse360
Summary: Sam is officially divorced from Drew and now she wants to focus on restarting her PI firm. Jason is around for Danny and, while Sam can feel a pull, she wants to keep her mind straight on the tasks she set out for herself. That is until the universe has other plans and places Sam and Jason in a harrowing situation, together.
1. Prologue

**Author's note** : First of all, this is Jasam fic. I'm trying a few new things out with my writing and also, I'm going to try and bring a little more life into the character of Sam and the romance between Jason and Sam. Reviews are always welcome and thank you for reading it!

 **Summary** : Sam is officially divorced from Drew and now she wants to focus on restarting her PI firm. Jason is around for Danny and, while Sam can feel a pull, she wants to keep her mind straight on the tasks she set out for herself. That is until the universe has other plans and places Sam and Jason in a harrowing situation, together.

 **Prologue:**

"I really don't like that there aren't any street lights on these roads. First, the GPS reroutes us and then we find ourselves needing to take detours because of road closures and now we're in, what feels like the middle of nowhere," Sam was having an eerie feeling about this. Maybe they should have left early in the morning so they wouldn't be driving late in the night. But she was worried she'd miss her lead.

"We should be fine though, it's only a few more miles right. I can see perfectly fine with these full beam headlights," Sam was rambling again, trying to say things that would calm her. Jason was next to her in the passenger seat. She never panics around him. Besides, she has driven countless amounts of times in the dark. She didn't even know why her anxiety was growing. Maybe it was the simple fact that Jason was next to her in the car, alone.

"Hey, if you're really that uncomfortable, I can take over or even we can pull over to the side of the ride and we can sleep in the car until day breaks. I don't have a problem with it," Jason suggested to Sam, sensing her growing anxiety.

"No, it's fine…" Sam responded, rather hesitantly, though. "Actually, you know what? Pulling over doesn't seem like such a bad idea."

She begins to slow down the car when suddenly.

"Jason!"

A deer in headlights…


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Sam! Wake up!" She felt someone holding her by the shoulders, shaking her gently but with urgency.

"What… is Scout crying?" Sam asked groggily not wanting to lift her head off the pillows. "I thought it was your turn."

"Scout is sound asleep but we overslept and Danny is going to be late for school," Jason told her after he had rushed into the room. Danny was standing at the doorway waiting for his father to get dressed and help him get ready. He'd been excited about today. It was the first day of the school year and one in which both his parents promised to make him breakfast and drop him off at school.

"What? The alarm hasn't even gone off yet," Sam said throwing her arms over her head, really not wanting to leave her warm cocoon of a bed.

"I think we need to replace the batteries in our alarms. I'll go make breakfast and put on a pot of coffee, can you get Danny ready?" Jason asked as he headed out of the door, giving his son a small hug before going down the stairs.

Sam sighed, threw off the blankets from her body and found her slippers. She looked across the bed and hoped one day Jason would join her instead of sleeping on the couch. But, everything needed its time.

"Alright, Danny, what do you say we get this day started," Sam attempted to sound slightly more enthusiastic but mornings were never her _thing_.

"Mommy, why are you so tired?" Danny asked perplexed.

"Because your baby sister keeps mommy up all night," Sam smiled while she grabbed her bathrobe from the hook on the back of the door. "Come on, let's get you to your room and put you in the clothes that we picked out yesterday."

"How come I never hear Scout when I'm sleeping?" Danny asked as he held his mother's hand on the short walk across the hallway to his room.

"Because you are a very good sleeper," Sam answered wishing she could be more like her son. Having been such a sound sleeper these last months, it surprised Sam and Drew when Scout had stopped sleeping through the night. Concerned, Sam had taken her daughter to the daughter only to learn that she was simply teething again. She didn't remember Danny being so fussy at this age, but then again, Danny was always so stoic. He still is; never one to talk much to people he just met and his teacher from the previous year said he was the quietest of the bunch. It didn't mean he didn't stir up his own trouble. She'd received numerous calls over the summer at Lila's kids from his counselor saying that Danny would write on the desks with markers or play small pranks on other kids. Needless to say, both her children were a handful, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Hands up," Sam instructed her son and up went his arms as she took off his PJ shirt. She grabbed his blue and red striped shirt from the top of the dresser. She slipped her hand into one of the armholes.

"Give me this hand," Sam pointed at Danny's right hand, and the hand went into the arm-hole. The same was done with his other little arm and Sam pulled the shirt over his head, however, she didn't pull the shirt all the way down, leaving some of the shirt over his face.  
"Oh-oh, where did Danny go?"  
"I'm right here, Mommy!" Sam and Danny giggled, and Sam quickly pulled down the rest of the shirt.  
"Ok, do you think you can put on the rest of the clothes and meet me in the bathroom? Mom has to put on her own clothes and then go check on Scout, ok," and Danny nodded his head.

Sam walked out of Danny's room, back into her room and quickly threw on some leggings and a black shirt. Simple. She slowly opened the door to Scout's room as to not have the door creak. Tiptoeing over to the bed, she peered over to see her little angel sound asleep. The bed was new, having only moved Scout over from the crib last week. Sam was afraid that she had moved her too soon, as Scout wasn't happy with the change. She was fussy and was simply waking up more often during the night, besides the teething. After the first night, Sam was convinced that she needed to unpack the crib, but Jason was there to stop her and convince her that Scout simply needed time to adjust. Last night had been a slight improvement and Sam was hopeful the trend would continue.

"Mommy! I'm ready!" Danny told his mother from the entrance of the room.

"Shh," Sam was quick to put a finger to her lips. She wanted Scout to have a few more minutes of sleep before waking her up.

Sam tip-toed back out of the room, softly closing the door behind her and followed Danny to the bathroom.

"Let's first brush our teeth and then I'll do something about this hair," Sam laughed as she made her way through her son's knotted hair.

Danny got onto his step-stool and grabbed his toothbrush, letting his mother help him put just the perfect amount of toothpaste onto his brush. As Danny was brushing away, Sam filled up his plastic Spider-man cup with water before brushing her own teeth. Once Danny was finished, he grabbed his cup to rinse out his mouth and Sam did the same but used her hands to cup the water.

"Ok Danny, let me see those white teeth!"

Danny opened his mouth, using his two hands to pull open his mouth, while Sam crouched to Danny's level.

"Ay, good job! Give me a good high five," and Danny jumped up to reach Sam's hand, giving it a hard smack.

"Ouch. That hurt. You're getting so strong," Sam held a false grimace and waved her hand in the air while Danny giggled.

"Come on, let's go downstairs and see what dad has for breakfast," and off the pair went, with Danny racing down the stairs to greet his dad.

"Danny! Be careful! I don't want you to fall," Sam yelled after him.

"It's ok, I've got him. Besides, it's not like he hasn't done it a million times," Jason laughed, walking out of the kitchen with a plate of waffles and a Danny wrapped around his leg. "Now, Danny, what would you like on your waffle? Strawberry and whipped cream, or maple syrup?"

"Maple syrup!" He answered quickly.

"Ok, but no spilling. We don't want to make mom have to get you a new shirt." And Danny simply nodded at his father as he gave him the syrup. Danny was rather liberal with the syrup, making sure to leave no part of the plate 'un-syrupped'.

Jason walked back into the kitchen and returned with two cups of coffee, handing one of them to Sam.

"Thank you," Sam replied, taking a sip of the loveliness.

"I have a feeling you'll be drinking a lot of cups today," Jason joked.

"As if you aren't," Sam returned.

"Touché."

Sam took a quick of her coffee before placing the mug back down. "Let me go grab Scout and then we can go."

A few moments later Sam came back down the stairs with Scout in her arm.

"Still asleep, huh?"

"Yes, I'm hoping she'll stay asleep and won't wake up in the car."

Jason took a big gulp of his coffee before walking over to the desk.

"What are you doing?"

"Grabbing the car keys," Jason answered simply.

"Right, and what are you going to do with those?" Sam walked over towards him.

"Drive Danny to school."

"Ok, but I thought I was going to drive."

"But… I always… I'm sorry, here you can drive," Jason gave in. He was still at times hesitant around her even though he didn't want to be. Sam had stressed the importance of her wanting some time alone to figure things out and he wanted to honor that, no matter how difficult. He simply stayed overnight, sleeping on the couch, so that Danny can have both his parents be there to drop him off.

Jason and Sam traded. Jason handed the keys over to Sam, giving him a little smirk in the meantime, while Sam gently handed Scout over to him.

"Danny, let's go. Time for school," Jason spoke, his voice loud enough to project towards Danny but hopefully not loud enough to wake the sleeping beauty his voice.

"Wait, come here," Sam stopped Danny in his tracks as he attempted to run over to his dad once more. "You've got syrup all over your mouth." Sam licked her fingers and rubbed them all around her son's mouth, trying to get all the sticky syrup off of him.

"Mommy," Danny tried to worm his way out of his mother's arm.

"There, all better. Let me get your backpack and jacket," Sam hurried over to the coat closet to grab the two items. "Give me one arm," and one arm was fitted into the jacket, "other arm," and the second arm was in.

"It's a little chilly today so let me zip you up," and that she did, making sure the zipper was up to his neck. "Danny, where are your shoes, ah!" She ran back to the closet to grab his Velcro sneakers. Danny took the shoes from his mother, insisting he could put them on himself, which he did.

Jason watched from afar, simply giggling and delighted that he was back with his family and things were sort of returning to normalcy.

"Ok, last thing. Your backpack," Sam handed over the backpack to her son and he strapped it onto his back. "Come here, I want to tell you something," Sam crouched down to Danny.

"Sam, we don't have too much time," Jason smiled as he pointed to his watch.

"Hush, it'll be quick," she looked sternly at Jason once again and then back to her son.

"Danny, I want you to promise me that you'll be good at school. No drawing on the desks, or running in the hallways or hiding from the teachers when they're trying to look for you, ok?"

Danny held a devilish grin but then eventually gave a nod to his mother.

"Ok, thank you. Now let's go."

* * *

Sam plopped herself down on the couch and swore that if she were to close her eyes she'd be out like a light. Unfortunately, she couldn't afford such a luxury. The penthouse was an embarrassment and her clients were waiting for her calls on her latest information about their spouses. She'd restarted the PI firm of McCall and Jackal, with Spinelli insisting he could work from Portland. It wasn't like he did any of the field work in the past and if he ever did attempt to do so, it was a disaster. Many of her forming clients came running back when they heard the news, needing a whole new slew of spouses and mistresses to be spied on.

Running a hand through her hair, Sam pulled herself off of the couch and began tidying the living room of all Danny's toys.  
Alexis had scorned her in the past for not having Danny clean up after himself following play time. Sam had been getting better at the whole "disciplining a child" situation but it was tough to reprimand Danny after all he'd been through lately. It seems like every year he has a new dad. First it Jason, then it Patrick for a little while, then Jason 2.0 who turned into Drew and now it's back to the original Jason. It can't be easy on such a little guy, no matter how resilient he is. Sam didn't want to hurt her son, even despite her mother's insistence that Danny didn't hold a grudge against her or Jason.

"Knock knock," someone said at the door. Sam jumped before recognizing who the knocker was.

"Mom, hi, you scared me."

"Hi… honey…," Alexis simply stepped into the apartment but held a perplexed expression. "I know that this building has good security but I still wouldn't leave my door wide open."

"Ugh, I'm sorry, Jason or I must have let it open. He was in a bit of a rush to head to work," Sam explained as she wiped off the coffee table of the previous day's cereal crumbs. "What brings you by? I thought you'd be in the office."

"I was. But the one case I was working on was dismissed so I decided to stop by for a visit on my way home," Alexis replied as she closed the door behind her and walked closer towards her daughter, noticing the mess that had afflicted the residence. Sam threw the crumbs in her hand into a garbage bin sitting off to the corner of the room and headed towards her mother to give her a tight warm hug.

"Well, thank you. I enjoy your visits…most of the time…" she giggled.

"I can leave," Alexis raised her eyebrows and pointed her finger to the door.

"No! I was just kidding," Sam laughed.

"Sure," Alexis said and dropped her bag on the sofa. "It looks like a tornado made its way through here. How did it get so messy within a week?"

"I don't know. I guess being a working mom and taking care of two little rug rats had me ignoring the mess."

"Would you like a hand," Alexis offered. "Let me start by opening the blinds," she walked over to the French doors behind the dining table and pulled the chords to move aside the curtains, letting the natural light fill the enter room. "What else can I do?"

"Mom…"

"Honey, I'd rather help you clean this place up than sit at home alone complaining that there's nothing on cable," Alexis interrupted.

"Ok, fine," Sam gave in. "Can you put all the shoes into the coat closet?"

Alexis happily obliged and begun picking up all the strewn shoes lying around the room while Sam grabbed all the stray toy cars that had magically dispersed itself into every crevice of the room.

"How are the kids?" Alexis asked.

"Great. I think Scout is finally getting a little more used to the bed and Danny… well, let's hope I don't get a phone call from the new teacher today," Sam answered.

"He means well you know…"

"Mom, he's the sweetest any boy can be. He just has an impossible amount of energy," Sam told her mom exasperatedly.

"I wouldn't know, I never raised a little boy. Anyway, how's the PI job working out?" Alexis organized the jackets on the hangers and then hung them onto the rack.

"It was a little overwhelming at first, and I was doubting myself because it's been so long since I've been in the field, but, mom, it feels so good to be back working in a job that feels like it was made for me," Sam threw a few toy cars she'd found into the red bin beside the couch.

"Hi."

"Hey!" Sam was surprised to see Jason standing in the doorway. "What are doing back so soon?"

"I forgot my leather jacket," he answered.

"Can't live without that now can we," Alexis muttered under her breath but Sam was still able to hear her.

"Mom!" Sam slapped her mother's arm.

"Sorry."

"Hi Alexis," Jason greeted his former mother-in-law with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, Jason. It's really great to see you."

"Great to see you as well."

"Well, I'm going to head out," Jason spoke, picking up his jacket from the desk chair and heading to the door.

"Jason, wait!" Sam quickly ran over towards him, nearly knocking her mother down in the process. "Thank you for…um… helping me bring Danny to school. It was really nice of you. And I'm sure Danny really appreciated it."

"Anytime."


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Thank for the review and the follows.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Sam stood outside her office trying to jangle the knob of the door as it wouldn't budge.

"You've got to be kidding me," Sam was annoyed. She knew the building was turning to its last days but she'd hoped it would still allow her into her office. The landlord offered her the space for cheap and, though, Sam had plenty of other options, she had chosen it because it was close to the penthouse and to Danny's school, if there was an emergency. Carly had offered her some square footage at the hotel, but Sam was quick to deny. Drew was in the same building and Sam was not ready for certain run-ins with her ex-husband. There was still a bond between the two, they share a child after all, but things had grown awkward and Sam had decided that if either of them were going to have a chance of moving on, they needed to be truly apart. And it wasn't as if they don't still see each other. There's the occasional sighting at the Quartermaines or the scheduled visits to pick up Scout.

The office wasn't too bad. It certainly needed some TLC and Sam spent a week by herself, rebuilding and redecorating the place. She began by ripping out the old stained carpets, revealing decent quality hardwood underneath. Renting a sander from the local hardware store, she sanded the floors and then stained them. Next came a new coat of paint; one that was lighter to make the room less eerie and dreary. For the final touches, Sam went out and bought large photographs of ships at sea to hang around the room. With some furniture, the office was much more inviting to both Sam and the clients.

However, that's all useless if Sam can't get into the office. She fiddled with the key and doorknob some more, hoping that something would click. And something did click.

"Damnit!" The doorknob had come apart in her hand. She took what remained of the doorknob and aggressively threw it to the ground, marking the floor with a sizeable dent.

"You're probably going to have to pay for that," a man came up behind Sam, amused by the scene that had played out in front of him.

"Nobody has paid for anything in this building for the last 50 years, why start now?" Sam said sarcastically before turning around. "Hi."

"Hi," Jason replied. "Maybe I can help?"

"Short from busting the door down, I don't know how you can help."

"What's wrong with busting the door down?"

"At this point, nothing. You can do the honors," Sam moved out of the way and let Jason take over. He positioned himself so that his right shoulder was facing the door and then rushed towards the door, crashing into the room. The door, magically, stayed on its hinges.

"Thank you," Sam said to Jason while walking into her office.

"Not a big deal," Jason replied as he looked around the room. "It's a nice place you've got here."

"Right, thank you" she laughed. "Something tells me you're not here to check out my new office," Sam glanced over at him, with a small smile forming; clearly not disappointed with his presence.

"No. Not really," his gaze went down and he shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. He too had a small smile forming. "I… um… I know you started the new PI firm and I'm actually seeking your services… your PI services!"

Sam giggled at Jason nervousness. "I know what you meant, Jason."

"Yes, I mean if you have the time of course. I know yesterday I saw a bunch of files on your desk at the penthouse."

"Jason, stop. Of course, I have time for you," Sam interrupted him. She had never seen him this nervous before, especially not around her and it was cute but unnecessary. "What's the case?"

"I want you to run a background check on the new DA. Her name is Margaux or something. I ran into her at Kelly's yesterday and had the whole 'I'm going to take down your organization' speech that every new DA gives. I just want to know what kind of DA she is."

Sam moved towards her desk, opened one of the cabinets and took out a blue file. "Already done. I've met her as well. I saw her having lunch with Drew last week or something and then we ran into each other sometime after that. She certainly threw me off. Something about her just seems off. Anyway, her file doesn't say much. She went to an Ivy League law school. Started in a law firm down in NYC before joining the DA's office in Albany and now she's here."

"So, there was nothing suspicious?" Jason asked, seeming to relax more by talking to Sam.

"Nope, just the ordinary run of the mill DA. Maybe I just get that ominous feeling with every DA, given my history," Sam joked, earning herself a little smirk from Jason.

"Yeah maybe. So, how many cases are you working on?"

"A sizeable amount. It's all just cheating spouses and what not."

"Bread and butter."

"Yes, bread and butter," Sam bit her lip.

"Well, I'll let you work. I don't want to keep you," Jason said as he was heading towards the door.

"No, wait!" Sam quickly stopped him and then, as if on cue, her phone rang. "Let me get this but please wait. I want to talk to you about something."

Jason nodded his head as Sam went to answer her phone. She moved to sit at her desk, taking out a pen and paper to jot down the details of the phone call. Meanwhile, Jason thought back to moments earlier. Why was he so nervous around Sam? Heck, he was married to her at one time. It was no secret that the situation was awkward. Coming back to your 5 years after you involuntarily left it and finding out that your wife is now married to your brother. Your twin brother that you had no idea existed. But now his wife, ex-wife…Sam is divorced. And maybe things can return to the way things were. Perhaps he was nervous because he was afraid he would hurt her again.

"I'll make this case my priority and I'll call the moment I have something. And please call me if you find any more information or if he returns… okay, I'll talk to you soon," Sam hung up on her phone, seemingly a little distressed.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.

"I have a new case. A missing person case. It could be a matter of life or death."

* * *

"Did you get any new information?" he asked Sam as she stepped back in the car.

"He no longer works here but the boss wouldn't tell me if he quit or was fired. I did speak to some of the other employees and they're pretty sure he was fired. Other than that, I wasn't able to get any more information" Sam answered. "We're at a dead-end."

"Why don't we go over the entire case again? It could help," Jason suggested.

"Right. So, Ms. Erikson noticed her husband was missing this morning around 7 AM when she woke up and didn't find him next to her in bed. There was no note and his cell phone was still on the nightstand. The keys to the family car were gone, in addition, so obviously was the car. Other than that, everything seemed as it was the night before; no clothes or bags were missing. She had noted that something seemed off him last night. He left his briefcase in his car, hardly talked at the dinner table and went to bed earlier than usual. As far as the wife knows, he doesn't have any shady dealings and she wouldn't know of any possible enemies he may have. He's just an ordinary guy who has a desk job and works 9 to 5."

"Okay, and based on what we just found out, with the husband not having a job, what are our theories at this point."

"Well, the most illogical one at this point is that he was abducted. The wife would have heard an intruder and I can't imagine the husband would simply leave the house in the middle of the night to be abducted."

"So that theory is at the bottom of the list."

"Yes. The other theory is that he got fired, couldn't face his wife, and, instead, decides to go away. They both have two kids going through college and the wife is a stay at home mom, and so, he probably feels an immense amount of pressure to support the family and his two sons through college."

"Does that equate to him leaving his family, though?" Jason asked.

"He could feel very ashamed and may feel that now that he's out of a job and can't support the household, what's the point of being around at the house."

"I think that's the most plausible theory to this point."

"I think so too. The question now is how do we find him. Spinelli is looking for any sort of credit card trail and he's testing out some new software. We already know he can hack into any security camera, however, we can't just comb through every single security camera looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, he's designed a program such that it'll run through all the security cameras in a set radius and will take pictures of license plates to see if they match that of the husband's car."

"Spinelli is good."

"There's nobody I'd trust more to do all the cyber sleuthing… ah, wait," Sam's phone rang, "oh, someone's ears must have been ringing." Jason smirked.

"Spinelli, please tell me you have something," Sam spoke into the phone. "He used his credit card? Oh, that's great… what's the bad news… what? That's at least 5 hours away from here."

"Put it on speaker," Jason suggested, and Sam did just that.

"Spinelli was able to trace a purchase made using Mr. Erikson's credit card. The bad news is that the purchase was made at a gas station in Albany." Sam recapped for Jason.

"Why would he be in Albany?" Jason asked.

"I don't know. Let me brainstorm for a second… Spinelli, can you see where he grew up?"

"I'm on it," some loud typing was heard through the phone, "okay, he grew up in Portland, Maine."

"Albany… you need to go through Albany to get to Maine," Sam realized.

"He's going home."

"Yes, he is. Thank you, Spinelli, for the help!" Sam spoke into the phone before hanging up and then turning to Jason, "and thank you too."

"You're the one doing all the work. I'm just here as company."

"You make good company. And we make a good team."

"It almost feels like…" Jason stopped himself.

"Feels like old times," Sam finished for him.

"Yeah, it does." Each of them smiled at each other; genuinely happy to be working a case together. It wasn't much in the way of romantics, but it wasn't always about that in the past.

"Well, what do you say we go on a road trip?"


	4. Chapter 3

AU: I didn't forget about this story, I promise. I had a few things going on but it's all sorted out now and I can update regularly again. The setup chapters are out of the way and now we can get onto the fun stuff. Let me know your thoughts and enjoy!

 **Chapter 3**

Sam quickly glanced over to her right and simply saw Jason staring out of the windshield. He noticed her glance and turned his head.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked, as Sam turned to concentrate on the road again.

"What do you mean?"

"You seem preoccupied about something," he always did know how to read her, even now, in the dark with only the occasional street light that they drove past.

"It's nothing," she replied.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," a pause ensued. "Hey, are you hungry? We took off quickly and didn't get the chance to grab any food, but there's some of Danny's animal crackers in the bag in the back. It won't do much but at least it's something."

Jason let out a small laugh. "Thanks, but I'll leave those for him."

"He won't mind."

"I'm sure he won't but they're still his and I'm not that hungry. How was Danny when you saw him earlier?"

"He was fine. He's always happy to spend a night at the Quartermaine's. I tend to feel guilty about leaving him there, but I know he's in great hands and if there were something that happened, they know how to reach me immediately."

"And Danny is a stoic kid."

"Yes, he is. I wonder where he got that from." There was a small laugh between the two of them.

Another pause ensued. This one slightly more awkward than the last. Neither one of them were quite sure what to say to the other or how to lead off the conversation. What do you say to your husband who you thought was dead but then came back 5 years later? And in those 5 years, you slept with three men; were engaged to one, married and had a child with another. As for Jason, he still feels as if it's 5 years ago. Everything had changed around him, but his mind hadn't. Sam matured and learned what it meant to be a single mother. Carly and Sonny were back together, not that that surprised him much. His namesake had passed away and his son was alive. So, while there was plenty to say, almost too much, the car remained silent besides the hum of the engine.

There was the occasional glance at each other. Perhaps to check to see if the other person was still there. Danny's animal crackers were left uneaten in the back seat and the car kept driving towards Albany.

* * *

"I swear there is always construction going on in New York," Sam spoke out, frustrated over the plethora of detours they'd already had to make.

"Seems that way," Jason replied.

"Do you know where we can get back on the freeway again?"

Jason took his phone out and began checking his GPS. "I don't have any signal."

"Of course not," she replied sarcastically, "I think I have a map in the glove compartment."

"You still have a map?!" Jason asked shocked.

"Yes! For exactly these kinds of situations."

Jason laughed and shook his head. He reached forward, opening the compartment, and sure enough, there was a good old trusty map. He took it out, turned the light on above him, and began unfolding the map and searching for the road they were currently on.

"Can you find it?" Sam asked after a few moments passed.

"Yeah, just give me a minute."

Sam slowed down slightly and glanced over towards the map. "We're right here," she said, quickly pointing her finger to a spot on the map and then turning back to the road.

Jason turned and stared at her.

"What?"

"There's no way you could have just done that," Jason spoke.

"Yes, there is. I know my way around a map," she giggled. "Now tell me where the next entry ramp is."

Turned out the next ramp was closed due to more construction and alas, they decided to simply stay on the country roads. But it became quite spooky as the street lights disappeared.

"I really don't like that there aren't any street lights on these roads. First, the GPS reroutes us and then we find ourselves needing to take detours because of road closures and now we're in, what feels like the middle of nowhere," Sam was having an eerie feeling about this. Maybe they should have left early in the morning, so they wouldn't be driving late in the night. But she was worried she'd miss her lead.

"We should be fine though, it's only a few more miles, right? I can see perfectly fine with these high beam headlights," Sam was rambling again, trying to say things that would calm her. Jason was next to her in the passenger seat. She never panicked around him. Besides, she had driven countless amounts of times in the dark. She didn't even know why her anxiety was growing. Maybe it was the simple fact that Jason was next to her in the car, alone.

"Hey, if you're really that uncomfortable, I can take over or we can even pull over to the side of the road and sleep in the car until day breaks. I don't have a problem with it," Jason suggested to Sam, sensing her growing anxiety.

"No, it's fine…" Sam responded, rather hesitantly, though. "Actually, you know what? Pulling over doesn't seem like such a bad idea."

She began to slow the car down when suddenly.

"Jason!"

A deer in headlights…

* * *

"Mmm," a small mumble emitted from the car, along with a few coughs, and it was laced with a twinge of pain and a lot of confusion. Sam took a deep breath before opening her eyes but was met with a stinging smoke. She attempted to look around, scanning her situation and her surroundings, but between the smoke and the darkness, there wasn't much to scan. Wafting away the smoke wasn't much of a help either, as more smoke filled the empty space created. She decided to simply assess her surroundings through other means. She knew she was sitting up and there was a chemical burning smell, maybe the cause of the smoke. Listening for a few seconds didn't bring much information beyond the presence of a few birds.

"What happened?" Sam asked herself. She moved her limbs around and felt the leather of the chair she was sitting on and then what felt like a plastic bag in her lap that came from a… a steering wheel; an airbag! She was in a car. It came back to her suddenly. Driving to Albany with Jason when suddenly, a deer galloped into the middle of the street. Jason!

"Jason!" she yelled but then chocked on the smoke. "Jason!" She yelled again but no response. She felt to the right of her, hoping to reach Jason, but she met with what felt like a tree. A tree in the center of the car. Her heart rate jumped, and she felt her breath almost escape her.

"Jason, if you can hear me, please say something!"

Nothing.

"I need to get out of this car."

She reached for her seatbelt, pressing the buckle and releasing herself. She then pulled on the handle of the door and the door opened with the smoke billowing out of the car, allowing her to see properly. Slowly but determinedly, Sam placed her feet on the ground and used the door as a crutch as she placed weight on her legs. However, her legs gave out from underneath her and she crashed to the ground with an audible thud. "Ah," she moaned, only now beginning to take stock of herself. There was a jackhammer in her head, a searing stabbing pain in her chest and a baseball bat had been taken to her hip. She found herself to be lightheaded and dizzy, unable to keep focus and struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Come on, Sam, you need to get to Jason," she encouraged herself. Using the door as a crutch again, she managed to get back up on her feet, forcing herself to put aside the pain. First moving towards the front of the car, her path was blocked by the tree. The large tree trunk had divided the car straight through the center, separating the driver and passenger.

"We crashed into a tree and the tree toppled onto the car," Sam worked out and she could only hope the tree didn't have Jason pinned.

Determining she couldn't manage to get herself over the massive tree, she opted instead to go around the back of the car, using the car itself to keep her upright.

Finally reaching the passenger side of the car, she was horrified at what she saw. Jason was lying against the window, unconscious and blood was dripping down his face.

"Jason!"


	5. Chapter 4

**AN:** Hello! Thank you for the reviews for my last chapter! And thank you to FeFe428 over at D&T for editing this and the previous chapter for me.

Enjoy this chapter and, again, let me know your thoughts, good or bad.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

"Jason!"

Sam pulled on the handle of the door, but the door didn't budge. Looking towards the hinges, Sam could see that the door was bent by the impact of the tree, effectively locking the door shut.

"Jason! Come on! Wake up!" Sam yelled and yet, no response. She banged on the window with her two fists hoping to see a small movement, anything. Nothing. Her heart was in her throat and she could feel herself growing more and more desperate. Her hands were shaking as they hit against the glass and her breathing became more rapid. She needed to find a way to get to him and some way to help him.

Sam stood back, thinking of all her options but they were limited. She couldn't pry the door open in her weakened state; she could hardly stand without the help of the car. She also couldn't break the side window for fear that the glass would cut into Jason. The only two options remaining were to either find help or climb on top of the SUV and break the windshield. Personally, she voted for the latter. She couldn't simply wait and hope for help to come and she certainly couldn't leave Jason in the car while she went to find someone.

She walked around to the front of the car and immediately noticed a new problem. There were pieces of glass lying on the hood from the broken windshield.

"Desperate times calls for desperate measures," Sam told her herself. A few possible stitches didn't compare to that of Jason's life. She found a few sturdy branches sticking from the tree and used those as steps to climb carefully onto the hood of the vehicle. She was thankful to be wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt to somewhat protect her from the glass.

The windshield was cracked right where the tree had broken through but there wasn't enough room for Sam to simply reach her arm in there to get to Jason. She needed to break the window bit by bit to ensure that Jason wouldn't be cut by the sharp edges. Using her elbow, Sam aimed it slightly left of the tree and hit just hard enough to break the glass. The pieces fell into the car but thankfully away from Jason. She hit the window again, just enough so that she could fit her whole arm and shoulder into the car.

"Jason, can you hear me?" she asked shaking his shoulder slightly. Again, there was nothing. She snaked her fingers a little further into the car to reach his neck. She placed her index and middle finger onto his neck and waited a moment.

"Thank god!" There was a pulse, and a strong one too.

"Jason, hey, it's me, Sam. I need for you to wake up for me," she shook his shoulder a little harder and finally got a little moan from him. "Hey, it's ok, everything is alright. Try to open your eyes for me."

"Sam," a small whisper emerged.

"Hey, hey, there you are. Don't move too much. Just open your eyes for me." And slowly but surely his eyes opened, and she was able to see his beautiful baby blues. A grimace came across his face as he became more and more aware though.

"What happened?" he asked as he got a look at his surroundings.

"We were in a car accident. I crashed us into a tree," Sam answered.

He looked to his left. "Is that the tree that's lying beside me?"

"Yes, apparently, trees believe in karma now. You hit them, and they'll hit you right back," she made an attempt at a joke and he smiled. "How do you feel?"

"I'm not sure. I have a bit of a headache…" he said.

"I can imagine, you have a large cut on your forehead. And most likely, you have a concussion."

Jason looked further around himself to assess. "My left arm is pinned."

Sam pulled her arm out and stuck her head in slightly to look at his arm. Sure enough, a large branch had come down, pinning Jason's arm to the center console. One step forward and now a step backwards. How was she going to get Jason out of the car?

"Okay, we need to find a way to get you out of the car," Sam said, already trying to find solutions.

"Wait, wait, are you okay?" Jason asked, his eyes raking over Sam, checking her for any injuries. She too seemed to have a cut on her forehead albeit a small one, but there was plenty of blood running down the side of her face.

"I'm fine. Just a little banged up, that's all. Come on, I want to get you out of the car," Sam insisted. She knew that one shouldn't move someone in a car accident, for fear of further injury, however, the smoke was scaring her and while she couldn't smell any noxious fumes, she certainly didn't want Jason still in the car if it were to blow up.

Jason knew it was futile to stop Sam. He would have to get her to worry about her own injuries when he was out of the car. How that was going to happen, he wasn't quite sure yet. His arm was neatly pinned by a heavy branch that was in the car. Sam would have to somehow climb into the car on his side, and then lift the branch high enough for him to slide his arm out from underneath it.

"I need to climb in on top of you," Sam said suddenly. "It's the only way I'll be able to lift it off you. I can't do it from here, on the hood."

Jason's eyes widened slightly. She would be on top of him…on his lap. Surely, they were in a precarious situation, but it never prevented human nature from working properly. He could feel his cheeks burn and he just hoped that Sam didn't notice the redness. Instead, he tried to play it off.

"We need to break the glass some more then," Jason added. "Take off your sweater. I'll use it to cover my hand to punch the glass out from this side. This way the glass doesn't end up inside the car when you climb in."

Sam nodded and slid her hands to the bottom of the sweater to pull it up and over her head revealing the black tank top she had on underneath. Her movements were more stagnant and done in a gingerly manner and Jason quickly noticed a bruise forming along where her seat belt had been placed. But this wasn't all he noticed. After licking his lips, he wanted to internally punch himself. Oh, this was not a good idea.

"Here you go," Sam handed the sweater over to him. She noticed some redness in his face but never thought anything untoward about it. It was hot, and he was still stuck in the car. Of course, he'd be red and sweating. She was too.

"Thank you," Jason grabbed the sweater, bunched it up and placed it around his hand. "Step to the side," he instructed, and Sam did as she was told, before he punched out the rest of the windshield on his side. Receiving her sweater back, Sam used it to wipe off the glass on the top of the car.

Once the glass was cleared away she crawled over and slowly, placed one foot in the car, followed by the other foot. She felt her hip protest, but she needed to ignore it and she was hoping that Jason wouldn't notice. But of course, he did. He saw the quick grimace come across her face and wanted so desperately to tell her to stop; to find help for herself instead of painfully trying to extract him. However, he knew she wouldn't listen. She was always so stubborn.

Jason reached his arm out, wrapping it around Sam's waist, almost as if to catch her as she slowly got into the car, crouching her head, and moving into his lap.

Sam felt the heat immediately and now knew why Jason's face was red and it wasn't because it was hot. And she too couldn't help but glow a bright red. Oh, this was awkward. Jason had to look away for a moment. She was sitting on him, on his lap, in her tank top, and he just prayed that a certain something wouldn't stand at attention.

"Okay, now what?" Sam asked awkwardly.

"I… um… I think you should place your feet underneath the branch and then push your legs up."

"Okay," Sam began positioning herself, moving her back towards the window, with Jason holding her back and then she placed her feet where Jason had told her to.

"Are you sure you can do this?" he asked her.

"I'm a strong woman. Don't doubt it."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"On three."

"One… two… three!" Sam pushed with her legs, feeling a searing pain course through her hip and the rest of her leg. Jason saw the pain and knew he had to be quick. The moment he had any wiggle room, he pulled his arm out.

"Okay! Drop it!" he yelled, and Sam didn't need to be told twice. She ripped her feet from underneath and the branch fell to the center console. They both breathed heavily from the exertion and Sam hid the tears of pain that were threatening to make an appearance.

There were a few moments of reprieve before either one of them spoke. "How's your arm?"

"I think it may be broken, but nothing too serious. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you sure your arm is okay?" Sam looked down at his arm and winced. It was already swollen and blue. "Here, let me make you a sling. It has to be elevated." She grabbed her sweater and tied a knot with the sleeves. She then hung it around Jason's neck and softly grabbed his arm and hung it in the sling. "That should work for now."

"Yes, thank you. If you get cold, though, let me know and I'll give it back."

"Oh, I don't think I'll get cold," the words came out of Sam's mouth before she even realized it. Her cheeks burned and all she wanted was to hide in a cave far away from Jason. A pause ensued for what felt like a vast amount of time. It was almost as if the birds around them knew of the awkwardness inside the car and stopped chirping. Each kept their gaze away from the other, simply sitting in the silence until Sam finally spoke, "Why don't we get out of the car?"

"Good idea."


	6. Chapter 5

**AU:** Hey guys, I know it's been a while. I'm sorry.

Thank you for the feedback on the last chapter. As always, I really appreciate it. Here's the new installment, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

"I think my car is totaled."

"I'm sure it is. The axel is twisted," Jason replied, looking at the wheel.

"Hm… I'm impressed."

"What? Why?" Jason was confused.

"You actually know what an axel is," she laughed, thinking back to all those times when she fixed the cars. Like that one time in Mexico… and then when Lopez's men were after the both of them…

Jason gave Sam a strong side eye in return.

"Oh come on Jason, you're good at other things. Fixing cars is just not one of them."

The two of them had just managed to wiggle their way out of the broken and steamy situation. Now they were standing by the side of the car, still in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of the night.

"Are you sure your arm is okay? It was pinned pretty good?" Sam asked concerned.

"It's fine."

"Jason…" now it was Sam's turn to give him a look and it came with a strong stern eye; the same one she'd given to Danny many times.

"It hurts a little but there's nothing we can do about it now. How about you?"

"Me? Oh, I'm fine. Just some bumps and bruises. We need to find a way out of here," Sam responded, quickly changing subjects. "We need to get our cell phones and see if we have any reception."

Jason didn't like the fact that Sam didn't disclose to him how she was truly feeling but he didn't want to pressure her. Business as usual for Jason. Everything he's done in the past year has been in an effort to not pressure her. He allowed the chips to fall where they may and hoped that they'd fall in his favor, even though he didn't feel as if he deserved it.

Chips aside, Jason could tell that she was hurting. Beyond the cut on her forehead which he was sure would need stitches, Sam was holding herself gingerly. She had a slight limp and he had noticed the slight winces that she would make when taking a deep breath. That, along with the slight bruise emerging on her chest just above the line of her tank top, led Jason to suspect that Sam possibly had a cracked rib. But, once again, he didn't want to pressure her. Besides, she'd always made an equally awful patient as he did. She was prettier but just as awful.

Instead, Jason pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket and turned it on.

"I don't have any signal," Jason said.

"Great and my phone is in my leather jacket which is in the backseat of the car," Sam came to realize.

"I'll go get it," Jason offered, already moving closer towards to the car.

"No, Jason," Sam threw her hand out in front of him, "your arm!"

"And?" Jason turned around to face her.

"Let me do it. I'm smaller. I can fit between the seats and get to the back row."

"Sam…"

"Jason, there's nothing we can do about it." Sam knew that Jason knew. He could read her too well; better than anyone else.

"Sam, do you really think I haven't noticed? You're not putting any weight on that hip and you're limping," Jason answered sternly. Sam looked away. She felt like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Well," she said finally, "there's nothing we can…"

"You can try sitting down," Jason interrupted.

"As I was going to say, there's nothing we can do about it. Let me crawl to the back seat and get my jacket," she said ignoring Jason's last statement as she became increasingly annoyed with him. Why did he have to care so much?

"Fine," Jason gave into her stubbornness, "but at least let me help you." He offered up his good arm for her to take. Sam gave the arm an extra thought before taking it.

"I got this," she said when they got to the front of the car. She, once again, used the branches on the side of the tree to get up onto the hood of the SUV. Jason, in the interest of avoiding an argument, simply spotted her as she climbed up.

"Be careful of the glass," he advised as she shimmied her way back into the passenger seat.

Sam, reaching the seat, sat down. Now came the difficult part. She needed to wrap herself around the seat, between the tree trunk and the console, and then reach far enough to grab her bag.

"Ugh," she exhaled softly, as her chest continued to ache.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Sam brought her feet up to her chest and softly pushed off them. At first, she tried to just reach her arms around, but with not much success.

"Argh, why aren't my arms long enough?" Sam asked rhetorically.

"Sam, just get out of there. You probably don't have any signal on your phone anyway. It's not worth it."

"Jason."

"Yes."

"Shut up, please." Jason rolled his eyes.

* * *

A little while later Sam emerged with her jacket and a large bag.

"Is that Scout's diaper bag?" Jason asked.

"Yes, it is. I have a first aid kit in here," Sam answered. "I figured it'd come in handy one day."

Jason grabbed the bag and dropped it on the ground before offering his hand out to Sam to help her down. Sam took the hand and cautiously stepped off the hood.

"First, we need to check my phone," said Sam as she rummaged through her leather jacket trying to find the pocket her phone was situated in. She pulled it out and looked at the cracked screen. "Damnit!" she yelled before smashing the phone into the ground.

"Sam," Jason was concerned and knew that Sam's frustration only continued to grow. "It's okay."

"How are we going to get out of here, Jason?" Sam threw her arms up.

"We'll find a way. I promise."

"You never break your promises," Sam looked up at him and then let out a small breath. "I'm sorry for freaking out."

"It's okay, come here." Jason moved closer, placing an arm around Sam and cautiously pulling her in for a hug, being mindful of her injuries.

"Thank you," Sam wrapped her arms around him. "Now what do you say we put the first aid kit to use…"

"Sam…" he groaned.

"Jason, just let me look at it okay? And you have a head wound," she tried to reason with him and it worked. The two of them, with Jason carrying the bag, walked a little further away from the car before finding a stump to sit down on. "Okay, sit down."

Jason followed orders while Sam, first attempting to crouch but deciding better of it, sat down on the ground. She opened the bag and pulled out the red box. First taking out a napkin, she wiped away the blood from Jason's face. Then, pulling out a sterile piece of gauze and some hydrogen peroxide, she poured onto the other and reached up to Jason's forehead.

"This may sting a little," Sam said softly. She brought the gauze up to the wound and pressed gently. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt that much," Jason replied.

"How does your head feel? You were out for a while."

"I'm okay… maybe a little dizzy but that's normal for someone with a concussion," he answered. Sam nodded and moved back to her kit, throwing the piece of gauze to the side and taking out a band-aid.

"We'll have to make sure that the doctors look at your head. I don't want to take any risks with your history of brain injuries. Here, let me put the band-aid on," Sam peeled off the backs of the band-aid and pushed it against his forehead, making sure to not press too hard.

"Thank you," he said softly. Sam looked down from his forehead to his piercing blue eyes.

"Your welcome." A silent pause ensued as they simply continued to look at one another. "Jason, you scared me," Sam admitted and then looked away. "Seeing you, so still against the window with blood streaming down your face, that scared me."

"Sam…"

"It brought back all those feelings again," she interrupted. "All the fear and anxiety, everything. Jason…" tears formed in her eyes, "I thought I had killed you."

She was hardly able to get the last words out because her breath felt stuck in her throat. And her eyes, it was as if a faucet had suddenly been turned on.

"Sam," Jason repeated, this time reaching out and grabbing her hand. "I'm sorry." He leaned forward and brought his hand to her cheek, wiping away a stray tear and bringing her eyes to his. "I'm not leaving you."


	7. Chapter 6

AN: Hello there. I've realized it's been a while and I'm very sorry. I'm doing my best now to try and update regularly because it's not fair to you.

I want to thank you for writing reviews, especially throughout the months that I haven't been updating.

Enjoy the chapter and let me know your thoughts.

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

Jason and Sam sat close by the car on two rocks. They were stuck in the middle of nowhere and neither was exactly sure how to find help. Cell phones were either broken or didn't have reception. The car was certainly not going to be running anytime soon.

They've been silently mulling over the idea of what to do for several minutes. Each of them had patched the other up and both were supporting matching band-aids on their foreheads.

"I think our only option is to get up and make our way over to the main road," Sam broke the silence, "we will have a bigger chance of coming across someone then."

"Sam, the main road is miles away…" Jason started.

"Do you have a different idea besides waiting here all night?" Sam paused for an answer that she knew wasn't going to come. "Didn't think so. We might even get cell reception as we're walking."

Jason doubted it. This whole place was a dead zone, but Jason wasn't concerned about that. He was worried about his and Sam's injuries. There was no way, at least in his eyes, that they both would be able to walk for several miles.

"What's wrong with waiting here all night?"

"Really, Jason, you've never been the type to simply stand around and wait," Sam said with a twinge of outrage in her voice.

"Sam, you're hurt, I'm hurt. I don't know how much good it would do for both of us if we walk," Jason explained himself.

"Yes, we're both hurt, which means we should get help. The faster we do that, the better," she replied.

"Hm, you make a good point," he was still hesitant, particularly for Sam. How was she supposed to walk on a bad hip? "I'm sorry for being stubborn."

"No," Sam shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for going off like that."

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize. This is a stressful situation and I'm sure both our adrenaline is waning. We're getting tired. Let's get moving. You were right, the faster we get moving, the faster we get home," Jason stood gingerly, feeling the soreness settle into his body. "Here, let me help you up. You can use me as a crutch."

Jason offered his one free hand and Sam grabbed it, using it to pull herself up.

"Thank you."

Jason grabbed the diaper bag and slung it over his shoulder. Sam wrapped her arm around Jason's back and Jason wrapped his around hers, placing his hand under her arm to lift her up slightly every time she took a step to minimize her weight on her hip. He'd carry her if he could. Heck, he'd carry her for miles if it meant she'd be okay, alive and healthy. "Come on, we'll stay on the road. We're less likely to stumble over rocks and branches. And let's take it slowly. No need to rush," he said.

"I don't think either of us is even able to walk fast," she laughed.

"Are you good?" Jason asked as they both took their first tentative steps together.

"Yeah, this is fine. Are you sure you don't want me to carry the bag?"

"It's half your size, Sam!"

"Jason, everything is either half my size or bigger," Sam said. Jason smirked.

"Hmmm…"

"Oh my god." Sam laughed. "The accident left your head in the gutter."

"Maybe," he smiled. "I knocked my head too hard."

"So, you're not going to give me the diaper bag?" She asked one more time.

"No."

"Fine," she settled. "Aren't we a pair?"

"What do you mean?"

"We used to be, as someone once put it, the 'real life Bonnie and Clyde'," Sam thought back to that time when she and Jason were after Krissy and Michael and the young ginger-haired police officer stopped them at the highway stop. "Now look at us. We're old and crippled. We're limping out of a dumb car crash."

"I don't think we're old," Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, Kristina does. She told me the other day that I wasn't getting any younger and that if I don't…" Sam was about to continue before stopping herself.

"If you don't what?" Jason tried to get her to finish her statement.

 _"_ _Sam, you're not getting any younger. If you don't get on Jason soon, you're going to dry up."_ Kristina had said.

"No, nothing, she just told me I was old." Sam was not going to repeat what her sister had said.

"What? What did she say?" Jason laughed. He was aware that Kristina could have colorful words and he could only presume that what she had said was something pertaining to him. She hasn't exactly been the quietest on her intentions of getting himself and Sam back together.

"Nope, I'm not saying it."

"Okay," he laughed again.

The two of them continued their slow pace up the road. Without any street lamps, they relied on the light from the full moon to avoid potholes or bumps, of which there were plenty. A small road like this, it was to be expected.

After 15 minutes of walking along, Jason grew increasingly concerned. Sam was relying more and more on Jason's for each step and he could hear her beginning to wheeze, unable to catch her breath.

"Hey, why don't we take a small break?" Jason looked over to the side of the road and noticed two tree stumps, "we can sit over there."

"Jason…"

"I want to take a break." He was aware that Sam wasn't going to take a break for herself. She wanted to keep pushing on, despite the pain and fatigue. He searched for an excuse. "My head is bothering me a little." And it was. He could feel his head begin to throb and pulse.

"Okay, sit down. Sit down. Have some water." The two of them walked over to the stumps. Jason dropped the bag and Sam quickly pulled out a water bottle from the diaper bag. She opened the bottle and handed it to Jason. He took a big sip.

"A fully-stocked first aid kit and a water bottle in the diaper bag. Let me guess, you also have granola bars in there as well," Jason remarked.

"Yes, would you like one?" Sam asked, not even noticing his point.

"Wow, Sam, you thought of everything. I'm starting to believe that you planned all of this to happen," he joked.

"Had I planned this, I wouldn't have totaled my car."

"Point taken. You should have some water as well."

"I'm f…"

"If you say 'I'm fine' one more time," Jason interrupted.

"Sorry, sorry," she took the bottle Jason offered and took a sip. She proceeded to sit down next to Jason.

"I wish this was filled with some alcohol."

"Like tequila," Jason smirked, and Sam gave a restrained laughed holding her ribs.

"Tequila probably wouldn't be recommended in our condition right now."

"No, probably not," Jason replied.

"I'll just pretend for now," Sam took another sip. "Here take the rest."

"No, I'm f…"

"Jason," Sam warned, pointing a stern finger in his fact. He reluctantly took the bottle, drinking the remaining water. At least the diaper bag wouldn't be as heavy.

Sam looked up and noticed the many prevalent stars in the night sky. It'd had been a while since she'd seen so many stars, living in the city didn't allow for such sights.

"It's beautiful," Jason said as he followed Sam's gaze.

"It's calming," Sam replied. There is always the beautiful stability of the stars. Knowing that they were sure to come back the following night, and the next and the next. "Funny enough, I was thinking about the stars the other day. Danny had been crying when he needed to go to sleep several weeks ago, claiming that he didn't want to sleep without the lights on. So, I bought him a small plug-in light for his room that fills the room with all these little stars, you know the ones that Kristina and Michael had when they were growing up."

"Of course. They were perfect. They stay on all night long and aren't ridiculously bright that you can't sleep."

"Right, exactly, and it made me think about myself. I always thought that I loved looking up at the stars because they make me safe and they do. But I was thinking back to how, even though I didn't technically have the plug-in lights, I never slept in the dark. With my adopted father, we never stayed in one place long enough to call it home and there were some nights in which we didn't have a roof over our heads, or we were in a dingy broken-down house with no electricity," Sam continued, and Jason grimaced. He'd often forget of Sam's upbringing, so scarcely she brought it up. "And I must have been afraid of the dark as well. It's pretty much something that all children have. But there were no plug-in lights of the sorts and so I think I took in comfort of the stars. They were plug-in lights I never had. I knew they would be there at night, bright as ever, and that they were enough that I could go to sleep. And if I woke up from a nightmare, the stars were still there. They were calming."

Jason reached his hand over to Sam's and held it tight. He remembered back when they were together. She'd still have the occasional bad dream. Each time it would happen, she'd simply quietly walk out of the bedroom, in the hopes of not waking him, though it never worked, and go out on the balcony to look up at the night sky. And he also remembered the promise he had made for him all those years ago. He promised her that they would always end the night looking up at the stars.

"Does Danny still sleep with the light?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, he does. I actually had to go out and buy two more for his bedrooms at Monica's and my mom's. I don't think he's so much scared of the dark anymore. I think he just likes the stars."

"Just like his mother." Jason reached over, pulling a stray hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear. Sam blushed.

"I want to take him on a camping trip, show him how many stars there actually are in the sky."

"I think he would love that."

"Yeah, I think he would. I think he'd also love if you came." She'd also love it.

"Is that an invitation?"

"Yes." She bit her lip.

"I'll be there."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Hey, look," Sam pointed over towards something to where Jason was sitting on his tree stump.

"What?" Jason asked, not sure at what Sam was pointing at.

"Rabbit tracks," Sam smiled. Jason turned and indeed spotted the tracks underneath the moonlight.

"Sam, I think it's a bit too early to begin thinking about hunting for food. We still have several granola bars and enough of Danny's animal crackers to last us a number of days," Jason was lost as to why Sam would mention such a thing. It wasn't that they lived that far from civilization that they'd need to start living off the land. Heck, he knew there was a small town 2 miles over.

"Right, but, I don't know. Worst comes to worst, at least we know that if a rabbit can survive here, so can we," Sam smiled.

"Sam," Jason rolled his eyes.

"What?" Sam laughed.

"By that logic, rabbits should be able to live in our penthouse."

"Huh?"

"Well, you're saying that where rabbits live, so can we. So we should be able to reverse that. Where we live, rabbits should also be able to survive and live," Jason explained and Sam nodded, having understood his logic. She then smiled after having a thought pop into her head.

"Oh my god, can you imagine a little rabbit pulling a bottle of champagne from the penthouse fridge and popping it open. He pours it out for his lady rabbit and for himself," Sam was surely having funny thoughts.

"Wow, you've got an imagination," Jason had to crack a smile. "Besides there's no champagne in the penthouse. Only beer."

"Hm, how can you be so sure. It's been a while. Maybe I've changed."

"You haven't changed that much. You're still a tequila and beer kind of girl," Jason said matter of fact.

"Yes that's true. But, I do like a glass of wine from time to time."

Jason smiled and nodded his head. The rest seemed to help the headache. It was still pulsing and throbbing, but, the distraction was alleviating it to an extent.

"When did you begin drinking wine?" he asked curiously.

"I think it started when I began dating doctors."

If he'd been drinking coffee he would've spit out and such was Sam's intention as she giggled at his reaction.

"Doctors… like… who?"

"Hm, well first it was Danny's doctor, Dr. Silas Clay. I think he was just some emotional support during a rough time because now looking back, I don't know how I could've dated such a man. And I don't mean to speak ill of the dead." Sam continued, "We broke up shortly after his son passed away and he believed that I had feelings for Patrick."

"Patrick… Like Robin's Patrick? Patrick Drake?" Jason asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Patrick Drake, the one and only. We'd both lost our significant others and I don't know, we worked. We had this jive and chemistry together. The relationship was pleasant," Sam loved seeing Jason's continued reactions to her retelling of her previous relationships. Ah, this was torture for him.

Jason felt like this was more information than he had bartered for. His question was probably not the best to have asked. And maybe Sam knew that.

"Pleasant…hmmm," Jason did his mulling smirk as he always did.

"Yeah, it felt like a normal family. It was weird actually. We both had our 9 to 5 working hours, as much as a PI and a neurosurgeon can have our 9 to 5 working hours, and then we'd come home, put the kids to bed and sit in front of the TV to watch the latest episode of whatever show."

Jason nodded his head once again, struggling to even imagine the arrogant and self-centered doctor with someone like Sam. She deserved much better.

There was a long and slightly awkward pause that occurred as neither party knew how to further the conversation. That was until Jason dared to speak first.

"Was he good to you?" he inquired.

"Yes. He was incredibly supportive when Danny was going through his treatment and, though, he had some quells about some of my PI work, he still allowed me to do my job. He'd make me breakfasts during the weekends and bring coffee to bed when I would sleep in."

"I'm glad he treated you well." Jason felt a little unsure of himself. It was almost felt like a pang in his heart that someone else was making her breakfast or getting her coffee. He was the one that was supposed to do that. He was the one that was supposed to take care of her. Not Patrick Drake. But he tried to not let it affect him because, ultimately, he'd want her to be happy instead of pining over him for the rest of her life.

Nevertheless, Jason decided to be a little cheeky. "How was he?" Jason asked shyly.

"Who? Patrick?" the answered was confirmed with a nod from Jason. "What do you mean how was he?"

"I don't know. Like how _was_ he?" Jason asked again, clearly implying something.

"Jason! Are you asking if Patrick was good in bed?!" Sam had to laugh. Here he was, this big stud with the body fit to be a god and hair forever gelled in place, jealous of another man.

"What, am I not allowed to ask that question?" Jason laughed as well, insecurely.

"No! Girls don't kiss and tell!"

"And what about Silas?"

"Oh my gosh! Seriously, Jason!" Sam pushed his arm and continued to laugh. He loved seeing her smile. "I think you may have another piece of dashboard stuck in your head."

"I wouldn't be surprised, honestly."

"Is your head still bothering you?" Sam asked, sobering the mood and running her hand through his hair. The gel's strength was waning and his usual spiked hair was falling over his forehead. It made his seemingly harsher features softer.

"It's about the same. But you're a good distraction. Thank you."

"Anytime."

She leaned in closer, resting her hand on his chest and her head on his shoulder. "This is easy." She whispered.

"What is?" he asked, almost in a low hum. He brought his one hand up to touch hers on his chest.

"Being with you." She looked up and Jason simultaneously looked down into her eyes. Her heart began racing as did his. Jason leaned down and stared at her soft indulgent lips. He bent forward and their lips met. At first, the kiss was small and slow as neither knew which boundaries they could cross.

Sam sat up and turned her torso such that she was facing Jason. Her hands laid on his chest and she gripped onto his shirt tightly, as if wanting to be closer and wanting more. Her lips were so soft to his.

She felt a cascade of emotions fall upon on her. It began with apprehension then moving towards relief and then settling upon a longing for more; to be closer to him. "Jason," She moaned and Jason took his free arm and pulled her closer to him so they were chest to chest. And suddenly, all the boundaries had fallen. Both pulled each other closer and closer to one another, wanting so much more from the other.

Regrettably the two needed to come up for air and they gasped for air, Sam laying her head on his chest.

"It's easy being with you, as well," he finally replied. "How do you feel?"

She pondered as she took a few more breaths. Truthfully, she felt overwhelmed, understandably.

"I missed you so much," she answered, though she didn't necessarily answer his question.

"Me too."

"It feels good to be in your arms again" she added, seemingly burying her head deeper in his chest and her hand clenching on his t-shirt even tighter.

Jason and Sam sat intertwined against a tree trunk in each other's arm. However, eventually, a small chill in the air emerged with the wind and they were reminded of where they sat.

"I think we should get back up," Sam suggested.

"I think so too," he agreed. She slowly lifted her head from his chest and pulled herself together, before gingerly bringing her legs underneath herself and placing weight on them again. Taking Sam's offered hand, Jason graciously accepted the help and stood up as well.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, noticing how suddenly pale he'd become.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," he answered. He brought his hand up to his head for a moment as his head was throbbing much more. He looked around for the diaper bag and stumbled, nearly pushing Sam down.

"Woah, Jason!" She reached to steady him. "Maybe you should sit back down again while I look for help."

"No. It's okay. Just give me a second."

"Jason, you look like you're going to pass out. Please, stay here. I'll go," Sam had made up her mind but not before Jason could protest.

"Sam! Wait! Don't…" he felt a sense of warmth engulf his body and black dots began to cloud his vision. He couldn't finish his sentence before suddenly his body betrayed him and he began to fall to ground, losing consciousness on the way down.

"Jason!" she rushed to the ground where he now lay. Her hands flew to his face, holding him of either side of his head. "Babe, wake up! Come on! Wake up!"


	9. Chapter 8

_AN: Thank you for the kind words on the previous chapter. Writing this chapter, I was concerned because it seemed to be becoming too melodramatic but then again it is a soap opera. Let me know your thoughts._

 **Chapter 8**

Sam was running out of adrenaline. She could feel it. Her energy was draining, and she felt very warm. And nauseous.

She was out walking on the street waiting for a car to show up but it seemed hopeless and if Sam were to be honest with herself, she was terrified that she wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer. It was getting harder and harder to breath and everything, absolutely everything, was hurting. The only motivation that kept her going was Jason lying unconscious against a tree some several hundred yards away.

Continuing along the road, Sam needed to take several stops as black spots would begin obscure her vision. Nevertheless, after catching her breath, she'd go right back to walking.

Just then Sam saw some semblance of lights and it was coming towards her. Slowly but surely, they were heading her direction. Her breath hitched in her throat and her heart began racing. Seemingly having become oblivious to any aches or pains she was having, Sam runs out into the middle of the road and waves her hand above her head, desperate for the car's attention. The car wasn't coming quick enough, probably because the driver was more sensible and understood the conditions of the road. Sam continued waving her hands back and forth and then started walking towards the car. Soon enough the car stopped at Sam's feet and a woman quickly hopped out of the jeep.

"Oh dear! Honey, what happened?" The woman was besides herself upon taking in Sam's disgruntled appearance. The middle-aged woman had on a pair of scrubs with a light cardigan thrown over it.

"My friend needs help!" Sam seemingly gasped for breath, so thankful that the woman had stopped for her. "We were in a car accident. I hit a tree and he's unconscious."

"Okay, calm down," the woman walked towards Sam and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm a nurse, I can help you and your friend. Can you tell me where your friend is?"

"Yes, yes, follow me," Sam quickly turned in the direction of the woods, hissing at the protest from her body. The nurse noticed and brought her arm around Sam's waist, taking on some of Sam's weight onto hers.

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Sam," she replied, gasping again. "My friend's name is Jason." They walked as quick as they could over to where Jason sat lying against a tree. The nurse took Sam to the adjacent tree stump, allowing her to sit down before rushing over to Jason to assess him. "He has a history of brain injuries. He was unconscious following the crash but then woke up. We got out of the car and started looking for help when he suddenly collapsed. Please, you have to help him."

"I will, I will. Don't worry," the nurse tried to calm Sam down, giving her a comforting and confident nod. She began by checking his pulse and then examining his head wound. "Jason. My name is Sarah and I'm a nurse. Can you hear me? Can you try to open your eyes for me?" She gently rubbed the man's clearly non-injured shoulder.

"I tried waking him up and when he didn't, I got up and walked to the street to find help." Sam explained.

"Okay, do you know approximately how long he's been unconscious for?" Sarah asked while grabbing her phone from her back pocket.

"I think at most 30 minutes," Sam answered unsurely, "I don't know how long he was unconscious in the car though because I was out as well."

Sarah nodded her head again, making a mental note that not only did she have one head trauma patient, but two. "Okay, and do you know what happened to his arm?"

"A tree came crashing into the car and crushed his arm. I'm pretty sure it's broken." Sam explained it nonchalantly, seemingly over the fact that Jason had a broken arm. It wasn't her concern; his head was. Sarah opened her phone and turned on the flashlight, opening one of Jason's eyes and shining the light into it before doing the same to the other eye. "Alright, his pupils are equal and reactive which is a very good sign. His heartrate is a little fast, but I'd expect that from the trauma you two suffered."

"So he's going to be okay?" Sam asked.

"I can't say that for certain, honey." She said not wanting to give out false hope. She lifted the man's shirt to inspect his ribs before determining that he hadn't broken any. Raising her fist, Sarah then began rubbing Jason's sternum.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked as she got up from the tree stump and made her way over to Jason.

"It's a called a sternum rub. Hopefully it'll get him to wake up. Talk to him." The nurse ordered.

"Jason, hey, you need to wake up, alright. Come on, Danny and Jake are waiting for you at home so wake up." Sam said forcefully. And slowly enough, Jason let out a groan and Sarah stopped what she was rubbing.

"Hey there big guy, can you open your eyes for me?"

"Hm, Sam?" Jason stirred awake and, opening his eyes, his immediately searched for Sam.

"Hi, I'm right here. I found a nurse. She's going to help us."

"How are you feeling?" Sarah asked. "Do you have a headache?"

"I'm alright. Disorientated and I have a headache but I'm alright." He answered honestly, much to Sam's relief. He began turning his head towards Sam's direction but not before the nurse reached her hands up to immobilize Jason's head.

"Hey there, you need to lie still. You could have a spinal injury. It's not that uncommon in car accidents."

"My neck and back don't hurt. Besides, we're probably a mile away from the wreckage," Jason said so as to tell her that if the walking after the crash didn't paralyze him, turning his head definitely wouldn't.

"We need to get him to a hospital before he passes out again," Sam demanded seemingly certain that Jason was going to lose consciousness on her again.

"Yes we will. I'll need to call 911 but unfortunately there's no cell reception here," Sarah started but Sam quickly interrupted.

"No! He needs to get to the hospital now. Can't you bring us in your car?"

"I would love to but you both aren't critical enough for me to warrant putting you into my car. You're both relatively stable and I don't want to take the risk of worsening your injuries by getting to my car and driving you to the hospital. Paramedics would be able to stabilize you and are better equipped to transport you. I understand you're desperate, I do, but this is the smartest decision right now, okay?" Sarah wasn't sure if she had convinced Sam as she stilled seemed hesitant.

"Sam, she's a nurse. Trust her." Jason added, "she's right. We're both alright. We can wait for an ambulance." He was aware that the care wasn't incredibly far away but he's head seemed to be throbbing too much to attempt to stand up again. And he was certain that both Sam and the nurse wouldn't be able to get him to the car, especially not with Sam's own injuries.

Sarah took stock of the two of them and she grew more concerned with Sam. She could tell that Sam's mind was too preoccupied with her friend to tend to herself but Sarah didn't like Sam's complexion. It was good that she was awake and alert but her breathing seemed rattled and labored. Her posture was hunched, and the nurse could only suspect that she may have some cracked ribs and possibly, even worse, a punctured lung. If so, time could be of the essence.

"I'm going to get into my car and call 911. It should only take me 10 minutes and then I'll be right back, okay?" Sarah began, "I need for the both of you to promise me that you are going to sit as still as possible until I get back. Oh, and try to keep each other conscious."

"Yes, okay," Jason replied and eyed Sam, urging her to sit down next to him. "Thank you for helping us."

"Don't mention it," Sarah responded as she stood up and hurried back to her car.

"Okay, so you heard her. You need to sit still and stay awake," Sam said towards Jason. Jason laughed in response.

"I think she said the same to you."

"I'm not the one who just collapsed a little while ago."

"No, you're right. But I'm also not the one who's breathing is becoming more and more labored as time passes on. Or that keeps grimacing each time she moves," he paused, "Sam, please, I can see you're hurting. I'm okay. I'm worried about you."

"Jason, you don't need to worry about me."

"Please!" Jason had grown utterly frustrated. She didn't understand. "I used to think I was invincible. That nothing could touch me or bring me down. The mob could take out some henchmen here or there but the mob could never take me down. Until they did. And for 5 years I was gone. That is 5 years that I missed from Danny's life. That is 5 years that I couldn't spend with you."

He felt his cheeks burning and his fists were clenched so tight. He needed to make her understand. He wanted her to realize why he was worried. Sam looked away. Her teeth her grinding trying to halt any emotion from growing on her face.

"I've realized that I'm not invincible, Sam. And, as much as it terrifies me, neither are you," he reached over to grab her hand. "So, yes, I'm worried about you. I've known you for so many years and I can tell when you're hurting no matter how much you try to hide it. I don't want to lose you because you were too worried about me."

"Jase…" was all she could manage. It was true what he'd said. Everything. She wasn't invincible. How dare she think that because of all the times she'd survive before that this time it wouldn't be different.

"I'm sorry, Sam." He squeezed the hand he was holding.

"Don't apologize," Sam finally looked over and Jason could see that her tears were now freely falling. "You're right. I'm just scared, Jason. I am very aware that you're not invincible and it's terrifying. I don't want to lose you again. When I saw you unconscious, I felt like the world had dropped out from underneath me again, and Jason, I can't experience that again. I just can't. You need to promise me…"

"Sam…" Jason interrupted, already knowing what she was going to want him to promise.

''Please, you need to promise me that you're going to be okay. I can deal with you being in the mob and working for Sonny, but you need to tell me that you will be there tomorrow and the day after that. Please, Jason, please," she pleaded, as her body shook with every breath she took.

"I promise. I promise I will be there for you each and every day for as long as you let me. I love you Sam."

Sam's breath caught and she seemed almost bewildered.

"I'm sorry. I know this is a desperate time and we've been apart for so long, but 5 years or 10 or 20 years will never change the fact that I love you, Sam. I don't think I could ever stop."

"I love you too," Sam admitted willfully and gleefully. She leaned in closer towards Jason, wrapping her free arm around his chest to be closer to him. "I love you so much." She looked up at him, seeing his piercing blue eyes and subtle lips, and leaned in, her lips touching his.


	10. Chapter 9

**AN:** _Thank you for the comments for the previous chapter. This chapter contains some medical jargon and I'm not a medical professional so I will apologize for mistakes in regards to that subject. Enjoy the read!_

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

"Hey, I'm back. Help is on its way. How are you two feeling?" Sarah came hurrying back to check up on her patients and she was relieved to see that they had stuck to their word.

"We're alright. Anxious to get out of here," Sam replied as she kept a hold of Jason's hand.

"I can imagine," Sarah crouched down towards the ground. "It's going to take a few minutes before the ambulance gets here and, in the meantime, I'd like to exam you two a bit better, if that's alright?"

"You should check her over," Jason said looking over towards Sam.

"Yes, I was thinking the same. Is that okay with you?" the nurse asked. Sam nodded her head, squeezing Jason's hand. "Great, let me know if you want to stop at any time."

She began with simply taking Sam's pulse and, just as Jason's, her heart rate was elevated but reasonably so. The nurse then proceeded to grab her phone again, using the flashlight to examine Sam's pupils, before slightly lifting the band-aid that Jason had put on, to look at the wound. "This will definitely need a few stitches," she said.

"I figured," Sam replied simply. It wasn't the first time she'd need stitches for something, and she knew it likely wouldn't be the last time.

Next, the nurse pressed on various spots of Sam's head and neck, directing Sam to turn her head left and right, up and down. "Besides a concussion and stitches, I think you're head and neck area are fine," she concluded.

"Good news," again Sam replied, though she wasn't particularly happy with a concussion as she knew it would put her out of commission for at least a weak. The last concussion took her two weeks.

"Do you mind if I lift your shirt?" she asked. Sam shook her head and winced when the nurse then pulled up her tank top. Sarah grabbed her flashlight to get a closer look and grimaced when saw the extensive bruising both across her chest and her stomach. "Gosh, this must hurt." With one hand, she lightly traced a bruise on Sam's ribs and noticed a jagged end. "You certainly have a few cracked ribs, that's for sure."

"I think the seat belt and air bag got me pretty good," Sam responded with halted breath. The nurse nodded and pulled Sam's shirt back down gently. With broken ribs and extensive bruising, there wasn't much for Sarah to do but wait till the ambulances could get here. She was rather certain now that a broken rib had punctured Sam's lung resulting in her breathlessness and the contusions across Sam's abdomen were concerning her as well. She'd definitely need to insist that Sam be the priority of care, despite her stubbornness.

"How far did you walk from the car?" she asked both curiously but also in a covert attempt to keep their attentiveness.

"Not sure. We were walking for approximately a half hour before stopping. We tried to get back up but I passed out. And then you arrived," Jason answered.

"Not very far," Sam answered as well. "We couldn't walk fast. Car accident and all," Sam added humorously and sarcastically.

"And how did the accident happen?"

"I was driving. We were trying to get to Maine and with all the construction, we needed to keep detouring. The GPS led us here and…" Sam stopped to adjust herself to sit more comfortably, "with no lights on the street, I considered maybe finding a hotel for the night. Then suddenly a deer came out of nowhere and I swerved into a tree."

The three of continued a casual enough conversation, keeping the topic rather light. They'd spoken about the weather, the NFL season recently starting up again, and at one-point Sarah asked why they were heading for Maine. Sam answered that she was a PI and left it at that.

Soon enough they heard sirens blaring and an ambulance finally arrived, much to everyone's relief. Sarah got up from her knees and quickly made her way to the paramedics to direct them to Sam and Jason.

"We have two victims of a motor vehicle accident. One female, late 30's early 40's, definite head and chest injuries, pupils are equal and reactive though, and then one male, mid to late 40's, also with a head injury, as well as, a fractured arm. Again, pupils are equal and reactive."

"Okay, we'll split up," the older paramedic began, "until the second ambulance gets here. I'll attend to the woman here and you can attend to the male." The younger paramedic nodded in response to the command and set the large medical bag down on the ground between the two of them.

"Hello, my name is Kasey and I'm a paramedic with Madison county fire department. Can I ask what your name is?" and Sam went on to answer that question and a few more standard and tedious questions on medical history and allergies. The paramedic attending to Jason was asking the same questions.

"She has a rib fracture, probably more than one honestly and I'm worried about a possible closed pneumothorax," Sarah explained to Kasey while Kasey was digging out a few things from the medical bag.

"Okay, good to know," she turned her attention to Sam, "I'm going to check your vitals at the moment. Simple blood pressure, heart rate etc."

Jason kept his gaze on Sam, wanting to know everything that was going and everything that the paramedic was doing to help her.

"Sir, can you please pay attention," the other paramedic, the one attending to him, asked politely. Jason reluctantly turned his head towards him, trying to remember what the task was that the paramedic had asked of him. "Follow my finger while keeping your head still."

"Blood pressure is low, heart rate is elevated and pulse ox is hovering around 90%. We're going to need to get you on oxygen," Kasey said aloud before turning to her colleague, "Eddy, how is he doing?"

"Blood pressure is 110 over 76, heart rate around 80, pulse ox is normal and GCS of 14."

"Okay, let's make her our priority then. I think he can wait for the next ambulance," Kasey continued with her directions and everyone agreed but for Sam.

"Wait, no, he has a concussion. He has a history of brain injuries," Sam protested.

"Hey, I know, but right now his vitals are great and he's not showing any signs of internal injuries. We're a little more worried about you right now," Kasey replied quickly to get her patient to remain calm, afraid an agitated state would worsen her condition.

Jason decided to get up and crouch next to Sam, despite protests from those around him. "Sam," he said, moving a piece of stubborn hair from her face and then resting his hand on her cheek, "listen to them, I'm fine. We want to make sure you're okay because you're breathing isn't sounding right and you're looking very pale."

"Okay," she gave in rather easily. She was finding it more and more difficult to deflect the signs her own body was giving out. She couldn't push off the pain or weakness anymore. Every muscle was betraying her.

Jason turned around so that he'd be able to sit next to her, placing an arm around her shoulders, and then shifted backwards slightly to stay away from the paramedics doing their job. Everyone else scooted over closer towards Sam and Sam leaned her head back against Jason's shoulder, her reserve energy waning quickly.

"Get her hooked up to the ECG, I'll set up the oxygen," the paramedics continued their work. One took a pair of scissors to cut Sam's shirt open, each trying in vain to hide their reactions upon seeing the contusions, and then another placed an oxygen mask over Sam's nose and mouth. Jason held Sam, rubbing her arm up and down meanwhile.

"On a scale from one to ten, how much pain are you in?" Kasey asked. Sam attempted to reach for the mask to speak clearly but was promptly stopped. "It's okay, we'll be able to hear you."

"Seven," Sam replied. "And I'm really tired." Jason kept on rubbing her arm and began grinding his teeth. He simply couldn't stand the thought of her being in such pain. There were rare times when he'd ever see her so vulnerable and he couldn't stand it.

"That's understandable, you're probably pulling an all-nighter tonight, huh?" Kasey laughed, lightening the mood. Jason appreciated the effort. "We're going to get you on a few painkillers to try to take the edge off of your pain, is that alright?" Sam nodded her head and the other paramedic dug through the bag as Kasey prepared an IV, right after fetching a blanket and laying it over Sam to keep her warm.

The three of them, the two paramedics and the one nurse, kept working in a sense of controlled chaos before eventually they each took a step back. Jason did his best to his part in keeping Sam calm and lucid. He'd whisper in her ear. He'd asked what she thought the kids were doing right now and how much of a troublemaker Danny is going to be for the teachers at school. Sam would occasionally smile at a story or joke that Jason miserably tried to deliver.

"Alright, Sam, we're going to get ready to move you and get you into the ambulance. What we're going to do is secure your neck and back, which will probably be uncomfortable and feel unnecessary, but we want to take every precaution, okay?"

All Sam had the energy to do was nod her head before the paramedics got up to gather more supplies. The painkillers were doing their job as her headache was dissipating, her hip was throbbing less and the weight on her chest seemed to be easing off, but with the painkillers, she also felt herself getting sleepy and hazy.

Eddy, along with the help of Kasey, returned with the gurney among a few other supplies deemed necessary. Sarah stood up, placing the IV bag down upon the stretcher, and grabbed the backboard and collar. Amongst the three of them, they managed to get all the monitors, the oxygen tank, etc. situated on the gurney.

After Kasey carefully wrapped the c-collar around Sam's neck and ensuring that she was still able to breathe well, she asked for Jason to carefully lower Sam so that she was laying down on the ground.

"On three, one, two, three," and Sam was lifted onto the gurney after being strapped down to the backboard. Just then everyone could hear the second ambulance make its way over and stopping in front of the ambulance already standing there.

"Hey, look at that. The second ambulance is here to whisk me away. We'll be able to get to the hospital around the same time. How does that sound?" Jason whispered.

"Jason," Sam began.

"Yes." He got down closer towards, tilting his head so that he could hear better.

"You're definitely the best kisser I've been with," and she smiled. Jason laughed.

"I imagine the drugs feel good?"

Sam smiled some more in confirmation.

"I love you. Everything is going to be alright," Jason said lastly.

"I love you too," Sam replied as best as she could.

Soon enough Sam was loaded into the ambulance and not long after the paramedics drove away. Jason finally took the moment to sit back down to allow the other two paramedics to help him.

It was as if it was the car explosion, from years ago, all over again. Seeing her so helpless on the gurney, then being whisked away in the ambulance and not being able to sit with her. Instead he was left to try and temper his nerves and fear. He was itching to simply run after the ambulance to be with her.

A part of his mind was giving him wishful thoughts. That this was all a big mistake. That the person that was just whisked away was not Sam. It was someone else. Sam was perfectly well and fine at home, sleeping the night away. Or that perhaps her injuries aren't that bad as the paramedics or the nurse seemed to think. A rib fracture, concussion and a bum hip. She'd be up and around in no time.

Other times, his mind couldn't help but go to the worst case scenarios. She wasn't going to make it to the hospital. Instead the ambulance would need to make a detour to the morgue. Sam was strong, he knew that, but so was he and yet.

"Will she be okay?" he asked.


	11. Chapter 10

_AN: Thank you for the wonderful reviews on the previous chapter. This chapter is filled with more medical jargon, as will the future of this story as it stands now, and as such, I'll preface it with saying I'm not a medical professional. I apologize for medical inaccuracies. Also, I'm afraid this chapter is too dramatic and it made me hesitant to post it. With that, I hope you enjoy the chapter._

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

She felt overwhelmed by her senses; there was the intense antiseptic smell that filled her nostrils despite that oblique barrier of the oxygen mask. The hectic noise that consisted of a room full of people, she presumed doctors and nurses, yelling at one another which coincided with her sight, though it was restricted by the inability to move her neck, as all those people would cross over into her line of vision, occasionally asking her a question or two and then throwing around a wire there and dressing there. And all of those people were poking and stabbing her, asking her where it hurts and then poking and stabbing her some more.

"Her heart rate is increasing," one of them yelled above her.

"Pulse ox is decreasing!" another yelled.

"We need to get chest x-rays now! Everyone out," and suddenly in a scurry, a whole slew of people left, leaving behind a few straggles. Suddenly, she felt herself being turned on her side and something slid underneath her before being turned back on her back. A large ominous machine came into her view.

"Sam, if you can, hold your breath for a few seconds," and she followed the instructions.

"We're done!" and just like that, the slew of people returned. "I don't see any spinal fractures in her neck or back, but she has multiple rib fractures and a pneumothorax on her right lung. I also see evidence of a possible fracture in her hip."

"We need to insert a chest tube now before the pneumothorax gets any worse," and the doctor then began to mouth off instructions and a list of equipment he needed. Someone else meanwhile leaned over into Sam's line of vision and began speaking, "I'm going to take this neck collar off, you'll be more comfortable." The nice woman pulled on the Velcro straps and opened the collar before helping Sam lift her head to slide the rest off.

"Let's get off her the backboard," the shouting continued and once again, without warning she was turned to her side. She gasped and yelped as everything in her body protested. Her ribs pressed uncomfortably against the bed and her hip took the brunt of her weight. But as quickly as they placed her on her side, she was placed by on her back. This time there was a softer mattress to lie back on instead of the hard plastic. Another doctor shouted for more drugs and she could only hope one of those were painkillers.

 _"I feel sick,"_ Sam said to herself in her head.

The blanket that had been thrown on her was abruptly pulled back and a cold chill made Sam shiver as she suddenly felt exposed. She brought her arms up as a useless mode to protect her modesty, but it was in vain as the crew beside her pushed her arms down.

"She's becoming agitated, we need to get anxiolytics on board." One of them lifted up her left arm and rested it above her head.

 _"Agitated. No. In pain and very uncomfortable."_ Sam thought to herself. There was another chill as she felt some sort of fluid being washed over the left side of her chest, underneath her arm.

Just as quickly the blanket was pulled off, a blue paper like drape with a cutout in the middle was placed over her.

Nausea that had been snakingly lurking about all of a sudden came lurching out and Sam threw herself over to the side of the gurney before throwing up on someone's thankfully paper covered shoes.

"Get her cleaned up." Someone yelled as a couple of them standing beside her bed removed the recently placed blue drape, replacing it with another and wiped Sam's mouth.

 _"Overwhelmed. So overwhelmed."_

"Her pressure is continuing to drop!"

"We need to do a FAST scan."

"Chest tube, first. Then we'll do a FAST scan."

"She has a possible hip fracture! What if she's bleeding out? She could be dead in minutes?"

"And what if her lung completely collapses? She'll be dead in minutes," the doctor replied to another doctor.

 _"This is insane."_

It took a nurse to point out that the patient was still conscious and coherent. Certainly, the argument between the doctors could use less of the dramatics to minimize the patient's anxiety.

"Do both the chest tube and FAST scan. There are multiple hands here," the smart nurse had added.

* * *

"You have a concussion."

"I already knew that, how's my girlfriend?" Jason was beyond annoyed, frustrated and impatient. He wasn't even aware that he had just called Sam his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, I can't disclose any information about other patients due to HIPPA laws."

He let a long sigh before ripping of the leads from his chest.

"Sir, you need to stay calm!"

"Look, I realized I had a concussion and a broken arm hours ago. You're just wasting my time. I want to know how my girlfriend is and seeing as you're not going to tell me, I'm going to go and find out."

"I'm advising you to stay on the gurney, Mr. Morgan. You've already passed out twice and we do not want you passing out again. As well, we will need to cast your arm." The doctor pleaded.

"Just give me whatever forms I need to sign so I can leave, please."

The doctor nodded seeing as his patient was far too stubborn to waste his energy on convincing him to stay in bed and rest. He turned around and left the cubicle, drawing the curtains closed.

* * *

"She's going to the OR soon," the nurse told him.

"Surgery. Do you know anything about her condition? For what does she need surgery for?" he asked desperately wanting the answers.

"I'm sorry, I can't give out that information." He could've only hoped she would've.

"Can I at least see her before she goes to surgery?"

"I'll see what I can do. Give me 2 minutes."

"Thank you," and he was very thankful. He watched as the nurse walked away from her desk and stepped out into a hallway.

He kept his fingers crossed and paced around some more, trying to stay calm or at least, give the perception of calmness but he wasn't sure if he was succeeding. He needed to see her. To see her alert and breathing. Just to know that she's okay.

Soon enough the nurse returned and Jason tried to read her face as she walked over towards him. "You can see her. Just follow me." Jason breathed a big sigh of relief and uncrossed his fingers. He kept pace with the woman but wished she would walk faster. To him it was as if she was taking her time. "She's in and out of consciousness. The doctors have her on a number of medications that can make her drowsy," she warned him as they stood in front of an ominous looking double door. Jason nodded in reply and she opened the doors by pressing a button on the wall and allowed him to enter first.

"Sam," he walked over to the gurney, with his heart lurched into his throat. She looked ill. Her face was pale, almost a green pallor color, and sweaty. An oxygen mask covered her face and a hospital gown had seemingly just been thrown over her almost as if it were a blanket. Blood still covered the side of her face and he could see the beginnings of an intense black eye. Looking further down, he noticed a bandage covering the side of her neck with the looks of an iv-tube coming out of it. His limited medical knowledge told him it was a central line, designed to get medications to her quicker and more efficiently. Leads lined her chest, connecting to the ECG machine behind the gurney, and a thick hard plastic tube was coming out underneath the gown by her chest, leading to a noisy machine on the side of the bed.

It'd looked as though she'd gone through a war zone.

"Jas…"

"Hey, it's okay. I'm right here," he leaned over closer and grabbed her hand, staying mindful of more tubing and wiring.

"Are you the husband?" someone asked. There were other staff members still in the room, not that Jason had so much as noticed. They were busying themselves with tubes, wires, cables and monitors.

"No, I'm…" he hesitated. The situation was by far too complicated and he doubted that anyone in the room had the time to understand. "I'm her boyfriend."

"Okay, well, we're bringing her into surgery soon, so you only have a few minutes with her."

"Yes, thank you."

"Jason… your head…" Sam said using her other hand to reach for her oxygen mask.

"No, no, no," he whispered, softly pushing her hand away. "You need to leave it on. I can hear you just fine. And my head is fine. The doctor said I have a concussion but no brain bleeds or skull fractures."

"Good… your arm?" she asked, seemingly having to put in a lot of work to get the words out.

"A clean break. I wanted to see how you were doing before I let them put a cast over it."

"Jas…"

"I know. But I promise I'll get it fixed the moment you go to the OR." There was a moment of silence between the two of them as the machines continue whirr away with the occasional pinging noise and the persistent beeping noise. She closed her eyes, seemingly losing consciousness before startling awake again. Jason crouched down to his knee. "How are you feeling?"

"You have to take care of Danny and Scout. They're going to be scared when they find out."

"Hey, hey. I don't want you to worry about that right now. The kids will be fine."

"You need to call my mom. She's probably worried."

"I'm going to call her soon. Sam, stop worrying about other people right now. Focus on yourself. Promise me, you'll focus on yourself."

Sam nodded, heeding his words. Then suddenly she gasped in pain.

"Sam?" Jason grew concerned.

"Sorry, I was adjusting some things here," a guy said as he worked on her on the other side of the gurney.

"I want to go home." Sam cried.

"Hey hey, you'll be there soon. They're going to bring you into surgery soon and the doctors will fix you up, okay? You'll be home before you know it."

"I'm sorry, sir, but we need to take her now," a nurse said, lightly tapping Jason on his shoulder. He nodded in reply, never turning away from Sam.

"I have to leave now but I'm going to be there when you wake up, I promise you. I love you," Jason said, doing his best to leave his eyes dry.

"I love you too," Sam replied, giving Jason's hand a final squeeze before they both let go. The orderlies took off the brakes on the gurney and began rolling her away with all the machinery following behind. And just like that Jason was alone in the room. He looked around and saw all the garbage that laid on the floor. There were drapes, bandages, empty plastic wrappings, gloves, some fluids, including blood. It was eerie.


	12. Chapter 11

_AN: Hi everyone. First, I want to thank you all for leaving the kind reviews. I'm sorry for the long wait. I had this chapter ready a while ago but was never satisfied enough to justify posting. I rewrote it several times but couldn't get it the way I wanted it. Eventually I realized it was preventing me from moving on with the story. So here it is._

 _AN#2: There's more medical jargon in this chapter and I'm not a medical professional so there will probably be mistakes throughout. I apologize ahead of time._

* * *

Chapter 11

Alexis and Jason sat idly by in the small private waiting room that was provided for them. The two of them were restless, especially as the hours trickled by. It began with a benign twiddling of the thumbs, then to leg shaking or pacing around the room, before finally one of them would tell the other to try to breathe, not that it did much to quell the anxiety.

After seeing Sam be taken to surgery, Jason had called Alexis and Monica. He first apologized for waking them up in the middle of the night and then urged Alexis to get over as quick as she could and asked Monica about the kids and if they were alright. Monica told him that the kids were still sound asleep and Alexis said she was immediately on her way. Jason then, true to the promise he made, went to get himself taken care of. He got his arm tended to and a nurse cleaned up and bandaged all his cuts. He asked several times to several different staff members if they could give any information about Sam and every single one of them refused, citing HIPAA laws. It didn't matter that they were married at one point or that he and Sam share a child together, they stuck to their guns. And he knew that it was the law but he was still hoping someone would cave. One of the doctors at one point even threatened to have him kicked out.

So instead he sat in the ER waiting room and tried to patiently wait until Alexis arrived so he could find out what was going on with Sam. Finally, a few hours later, Alexis had arrived. She had come running into the hospital in a panic and quickly found Jason.

"How is she, Jason? How is Sam? How is my daughter?" She had asked in quick succession.

"Alexis, I don't know. I don't know," he answered. "They're not telling me anything."

Alexis had then rushed over to the nearest nurse and demanded to speak to someone about her daughter. They were both brought into an office where a doctor who had tended to Sam in the ER, spoke to them. It was then that they found out how serious Sam's situation was.

"She's bleeding internally?!"

"Yes, that's what we believe. The scans showed that her abdominal cavity was filled with blood. We couldn't pinpoint where the bleed was coming from but the surgeon will be able to fill you in better," the doctor said. Jason took a step back violently running his hand through his hair.

"Will she be okay!?" Alexis asked, panicked.

"I don't want to speculate and I also don't know the true extent of Sam's injuries," the doctor answered, the answer adding to both Alexis's and Jason's already growing frustration. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you guys more information."

Jason was clenching and unclenching his jaw and balling his hands into fists. Oh how he'd love to throw a few of the chairs across the room at the moment. Alexis felt like she was going to be sick.

"She's going to be alright. I mean, she's like a cat with 9 lives, right?" Alexis said pacing around. Jason just simply nodded his head. She was right, Sam did seem to be like a cat. Whenever she'd fall, she'd land on her feet. Whenever she was hurt or brought down, she'd simply get up, dust herself off and keep moving as if nothing happened. But Jason was aware that those 9 lives would eventually run out and he wasn't sure which life Sam was on.

"Ms. McCall's family?" a man dressed in scrubs came into the room. He was older, probably mid-50s and seemed well taken care of despite the wrinkled scrubs. It was difficult to read his face, though; he didn't look particularly happy or upset.

"Yes! Are you the surgeon?" Alexis sped over to the man and Jason jumped out of his seat.

"Yes, I'm the attending trauma surgeon. I'm Dr. Kessler," he introduced himself.

"I'm Alexis, I'm Sam's mother. How is she?"

"Well, why don't we have a seat and we can discuss," he answered, "please," he added while pointing to the empty chairs.

"Oh gosh, this can't be good," Alexis said as she took her seat and Jason held his breath while taking his seat.

"Is she alive?" Jason asked, almost in a whisper, barely able to get the words out.

"Yes, Sam made it through surgery. We're moving her to recovery right now," the doctor answered quickly reassuring the pair. "You'll be able to see her soon, but I wanted to be able to inform you on the injuries Sam sustained and what her status is." Jason reached across the chair railing to grab Alexis's hand and she gladly held onto his

"During the car accident, Sam sustained a host of injuries, some of which I'm sure you are already aware of, such as her concussion. She has two fractured ribs on her left side that resulted in collapsed lung. A chest tube was inserted to reinflate her lung and I don't foresee any complications arising from that. In addition to that, we found that she had a fractured pelvis but it is a small fracture and surgery isn't required. It'll take around 6 weeks to heal," the doctor went on to explain.

"Okay, and what are you holding back?" Jason asked, sensing that he'd only just received the good news and that the bad news was looming ahead.

"Sam has experienced quite a significant amount of abdominal trauma."

"How significant?" Alexis jumped in.

"Her spleen ruptured. And in addition to that we found some contusions to her liver and pancreas," the doctor answered all at once. The other two sat silently as they let the information absorb for a moment.

"That sounds serious," Alexis was first to speak.

"What does this mean for Sam?" Jason asked.

"We had to perform a splenectomy. Many people go on to live a perfectly normal life without a spleen. She may be more susceptible to getting sick because the spleen plays a role in the immune system but she'll just need to take a few extra precautions like getting the flu shot every year. As far as her liver and pancreas are concerned, that's just something we'll need to monitor." The doctor went on to explain. He told them that Sam was listed in serious condition due to the combination of blood loss and her other injuries and that she was being moved to ICU. Continuing, Dr. Kessler explained that the next 24 hours would be critical as the chance of infection was relatively high. "It could be touch and go especially as her risk of infection is significantly increased in her condition" he said, "but we'll do our best to pull her through."

"Is she awake?" Jason asked.

"No and she likely won't wake up in the next 24 hours until we start to ween her off some of the sedatives and her body recovers form the blood loss. And even then, I want to warn you, when she wakes up, she'll be out of it."

"Can we see her?" Alexis asked.

"Yes of course, A nurse will be in here shortly and will bring you to her. Do you have any other questions?"

Jason and Alexis both looked at each other, each wanting to ask a million and one questions to the doctor and they began asking all of them. What was her outlook? How long would she be in the hospital? "She hates hospitals," Alexis had added. Was she in pain? How long would it take for her to be back to normal? The questions went on and on and the doctor did his best to answer all of them. It wasn't always successful, there were simply some questions medicine couldn't allow him to answer.

"I'm sorry I couldn't answer your question better," the doctor had apologized, "do you have any more questions?"

"No, thank you," Alexis said, holding back the tears that were threatening to spill because of her fear and worry.

"Wait," Jason held the doctor up just as he was on his way out. "We live in Port Charles and I know that General Hospital has state of the art medical care. Is it possible to have her moved to Port Charles? Everyone she knows lives there, her kids, her friends, the rest of her family. I think Sam would like to be closer to them."

"I wouldn't recommend it right now. The infection risk alone is too high for me to justify the transfer. I would wait a few more days and ask her attending then." Jason nodded.

A sudden knock on the door made them aware of a nurse walking into the room. "I'm here to bring you to Ms. McCall."


	13. Chapter 12

_AN: Hi again. Thank you all so much for the reviews for the last chapter. I was very uncertain about that chapter and you guys helped put me at ease. I noticed that there were some questions as to why Jason wasn't on Sam's next of kin. This story starts right after Sam and Drew get a divorce. I didn't think it was logical for Sam to then all of a sudden list Jason as her next of kin. But I'm not sure exactly how that all works so I apologize if that's not how the system works._

 _Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you like it and thank you again for the reviews!_

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

"For now, we can only allow one visitor in at a time. If one of you could wait here?" the nurse informed Alexis and Jason as they entered the ICU. It was surprisingly quiet and yet also somehow unnerving. And there seemed to be this expectation that one must remain calm and quiet, as if walking into a law library. It was intense. "Perhaps that's why they called it the 'intensive' care unit," Alexis thought to herself.

Alexis turned to Jason and gave him a nod as if to say he could go first. "I'll call the girls and let them know what's going."

"Thank you."

The nurse went on to explain that within a few hours they'd allow for two visitors at a time but the staff still needed more time to get Sam settled. She warned that Sam may not appear well; he was going to see a lot of tubes and wiring and he was going to hear a lot of alarms and sounds. "The alarms don't always necessarily indicate that there is something wrong. It's simply a way to let the staff know what's going on," the nurse continued as she walked Jason down the hall into an open space. The smell of anti-septic managed to somehow be stronger than it did downstairs. The unit was set in a semi-circle such that the nurse's desk was in the center and the patient rooms, each with glass sliding doors, lined the outside of the circle so the staff was able to keep a watchful eye on all the rooms from the center desk.

"We'll need for you to put on a gown," the nurse explained to Jason. It was to prevent infection for Sam, she explained. The nurse took him through all the steps, from the handwashing, to putting on the yellow disposable gown and the nitrile gloves, before finally bringing him over to Sam's room.

It felt as if his breath was stolen from him and like someone was kicking him in the back of his knees. He stood there, looking through the glass and a wash of fear flooded him.

"Sir?" the nurse was very familiar with this reaction. No one could ever be properly prepared for such a visual of their loved one. She had opened the door and was waiting for him to enter. "It's a lot, I understand. Do you want to go in? I'm sure she'd love to hear from you," she said when he still didn't move. Jason couldn't utter a word and simply nodded, keeping his eyes on Sam. He thought he'd seen the worst back down in the ER several hours ago, but he was wrong.

The pair of them walked into the dimly lit room and each rounded the bed. "She'll most likely be on the ventilator for the next 24 hours to allow her to recover and then we'll start weaning her off depending on her condition," the nurse explained. Again, Jason could only nod as he was at a loss for words. "She's not in any pain. We have her on a whole host of analgesics, anxiolytics and painkillers," she continued, trying to somehow lessen the worry that was painted on Jason's face.

"Hold her hand, it's okay." She reached over the bed to pull away some of the several layers of blankets that had been laid on top of Sam to reach her hand. Jason looked up at the nurse before then looking down at Sam's hand. He was almost afraid to touch her, so fragile she looked. Reaching out, Jason gently grabbed Sam's hand careful of the IV that was placed on the top of her hand. He'd wish he could hold onto her with both hands, he'd somehow be closer to her, but with his arm in a sling, it wasn't possible.

"She's pale," Jason finally uttered.

"It's from the blood loss. Once we replace the volume she's lost and her blood pressure comes back up, her color will come back," the nurse explained. Sam also had a large black eye that darkly contrasted with the paleness of her skin. The cut above her eye seemed to have been cleaned up and stitched. There was now a large bandage covering it. Her hair was pulled back into a bun that sat atop of her head. He noticed the tube coming out of her mouth and taped to the side of her face, running above her, connecting to a large noisy rhythmic machine on the side of the bed. And then there was the tube still stuck to the side of her neck that he had seen in the ER. He couldn't see much else as she was covered in what he felt was a mountain of blankets. Nevertheless, it was still overwhelming. He wasn't sure what he could say that could make this better and go away. As if there was anything to say.

"I'll give you two a moment alone. Hit the pager over here if you need anything," she said as she pointed to the small button next to the bed. Jason once again nodded and the nurse quietly left the room.

Turning to face Sam, Jason reached out and brushed away a stray piece of hair that was lying on her forehead and across her cheek. He hated that he was wearing gloves. It created a thin barrier between the two of them. Touching her didn't feel genuine and he was afraid she couldn't truly feel him, like there was an invisible wall between them.

"Sam," he started, taking a deep breath before continuing, "it's me, Jason. I'm here. Your mom's here. Everything is going to be alright. You're going to be alright."

He couldn't imagine what she was feeling at that moment. The doctors and nurses told him that she was unconscious and drugged up. She wouldn't feel anything and that she most likely wouldn't remember anything. And he hoped that it was true.

"I don't know if you can hear me or not, but…" he stuttered, "there are so many people that need you. Including me." He took another deep breath. "We've already lost so much time together. I'm not going to beg you to wake up because I know the doctors said you need to get a lot of rest, but I want you to get well soon. So that we can be together again. So that we can finally be the family that we've always talked about. We can go camping with Danny and maybe take Scout on a boat trip one weekend. I'd love to see you teach Scout how to captain a ship, though she's probably still a little too young to understand all the controls. Danny's probably old enough. I'm sure he'd really like it. Or Danny and I could be your deckhands. He could help me tie the boat to the docks. Scout could be with you giving you a heart attack every time she presses another button or wants to reach the steering wheel" he laughed. "I'm rambling. How many times has that happened?"

He knew that Sam was going to be okay. That was the only way this would end. Alexis was right. Sam had nine lives and he was certain that this wasn't her ninth. She looked fragile, ill and frail but it was temporary. Soon she'd be awake and asking about her car. She'd be disappointed that her favorite SUV was totaled and then immediately start researching new cars.

"You've always been stubborn, Sam. Now's the time to show me how stubborn you are," Jason continued. "I know it'll annoy the heck out of everyone when you start trying to get out of bed or asking when you can go home. I'm sure I'll be one of those that'll be annoyed but I'll be smiling on the inside."

Jason stood by Sam's side for some while more before a yawn could no longer be restrained. Straightening his back, Jason let go of Sam's hand.

"I'm sure your mom is dying to see you and the nurses are only allowing one of us to see you right now, so I have to go. I love you so much Sam and you need to promise me that you'll make it through this," Jason said before running his hand on Sam's cheek one more time. He walked slowly towards the sliding door and exited the room. He gave one last glance into the room before sighing and ripping off his gown, throwing it into the nearby bin.


End file.
